Things that caught our eye

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If you want to understand the bike culture of Portland, a guy with a tall bike wandering through a custom bike show says it all.

He’s wearing goodr Wrap G sunglasses in the “I do my own stunts” colorful way and with a chipped tooth, he looks the part.

That’s a Chrome bag slung over his shoulder and there’s a HiFi wheels sticker on the top tube. This is old Portland bike culture. It’s from another time as this man walks through MADE, it’s crashing head long into today’s Portland bike culture.

I didn’t start by checking that all out though. I started planning in the weeks and months that led up to the show then I got to MADE an hour before the doors opened.

I picked seven bikes that caught my eye and I took deep dives into what was interesting about them. Once I got my still pictures I spent time putting people on camera and letting them tell you themselves what was interesting about the bikes and the companies behind them.

You can see all that at this MADE Bike Show link. That’s not everything that was there though.

As I walked through the venue I had a chance to see a wide range of what Portland bike culture is today. What I saw was a lot of gravel bikes with big tires and often flat bars. The vast majority of Portland’s modern bike culture is captured somewhere in and around that description.

It’s still counter-culture but it’s grown up and it’s had to adapt as counter-culture became American culture. At one point gravel adventures on CX bikes was a very Portland past time, then everyone started doing that. Portland had to go farther and rougher.

Or at least Portland had to start looking like it.

Knowing all this, I looked for things a little different. The eye catching details and polished technology. In a sea of rough and tumble what stands out ends up being the things that reach back to an era long past, like tall bike guy, or the things that found an angle and polished until it was as perfect as possible. Here’s a few of those things I saw at the show.

Here’s my MADE randoms in no particular order:

Gulo composites 

I saw these at Sea Otter and I’ve been talking to the brand on and off since then. The trick of these wheels is a wound composite spoke system. I like to think of it as similar to a Festka bike but Festka uses a technology that comes from Kayak paddles and that’s probably easier to understand for more people. Whatever works for you, the spokes are round and should improve ride quality. Gulo didn’t have a booth at MADE but they did have titanium spoke nipples to fit the theme.

More info at the Gulo composites website.

Ventete Inflatable helmet

This is a helmet that comes with a pump so you can inflate it before leaving the house. Right now it’s sold out but when it comes back in stock, it’ll be perfect for urban commuters. When you get to your destination, release the air and it flattens out for easy storage. It’s brand new so maybe it doesn’t quite fit my theme but it certainly looks polished and useful.

More info at the Ventete website.

Shimano art shoes

This was a Velo x Shimano partner project so I’ll let you jump to the article for more details. I’ll just say that the timeline was so tight they arrived only hours before the show and I hand delivered them. That meant I got to look at them up close and they are incredible. They looked amazing at the Shimano booth but up close and personal they were even more impressive.

More info in our Velo X Shimano Shoe Art Showcase article.  

Enve Custom Road John Wick Bike

I’d already been at the Enve custom builder roundup earlier in the summer. I didn’t expect Enve to even be at a show about handmade products but the brand does indeed make bikes by hand in Ogden Utah. The custom road is made at the Enve factory and I’ve some absolutely incredible paint jobs wandering the final assembly room. This time Enve had a John Wick bike that’s reminiscent of SoCal lowrider culture.

More info on the Enve website.

Rotor Uno

I interviewed Lorri from Roto North America as part of a discussion about the Classified rear hub paired with a groupset. You can check that out in this article about TRP Vistar 1×16 Shows up on a Sage Storm King at MADE but it’s worth a look at Rotor Uno outside of that. Rotor is a tiny company that launched a very cool product at exactly the wrong time in history. It’s never taken off and Rotor primarily makes cranks of all sizes and shapes. The groupset is still a very cool piece of technology.

More info at the Rotor America website.

Rizzo Cycles

This bike wasn’t even on display. It was tucked into the corner of the Hunt booth. It should have been on a stand though. It’s a titanium bike with 3D printed pieces and integrated cables. The bell is pretty cool too.

More info at the Rizzo website.

Hunt Wheels

There’s basically no info about this. It’s unreleased technology that I’m told will see a wider announcement soon. I was only allowed to show it off because I saw it at the show and yet, there’s not much to see. This is the Hunt 40 CGR that already exists but there’s new technology here that makes the wheels recyclable.

Check out the current Hunt 40 CGR at the Hunt website.

Ingrid groupset

Rob English was running an Ingrid rear derailleur on his folding bike but it’s hardly common. It’s an exceptionally expensive fully mechanical groupset. It’s also incredible to look at and I can never see it too many times. Look at that machining!

More info at the Ingrid website.

Breadwinner Cycles

Breadwinner cycles is very much a Portland company. The brand has a long history and those involved seem to consistently come together then split apart to make new iconic companies. I didn’t see this bike until late in the day but it’s one of the few that really stopped me in my tracks just because of the looks.

More info at the Breadwinner Cycles website.

Partington wheels and Baum Cycles

These two companies aren’t connected but they are both Australian. The pair had a booth tucked so far into the front of the building I almost never saw it. What brought me there was a friend asking if I’d seen the crazy light wheels with U-shaped spokes. When I went over, the spokes weren’t U-shaped at all.

Partington obviously uses a spoke shaped like a boomerang, not a U. Silly Americans. Still, they are crazy light. The spokes start at the rim then curve around the hub and finish back at the rim in a different spot. The inside of the wheel is smooth, with no need for rim tape, and a 31mm deep wheelset with 21mm internal width weighs in at 1060 grams. These will definitely come in for a full review.

More info at the Partington website.

When I finished chatting with Partington, I got passed off to Baum who was sharing the booth. I’ve heard of Baum but didn’t know much about them. Baum makes gorgeous custom titanium bikes and thinks of all the details. This one belonged to owner Darren Baum and it was running leather bar tape that matched the saddle and a wallet that customers get. The only thing I wished I’d asked is if it was Kangaroo leather. Has to be, right?

More info at the Baum Cycles website.